Meet Jenna Braddock, MSH, RDN, CSSD, CPT | Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Personal Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenna Braddock, MSH, RDN, CSSD, CPT and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenna, how has your background shaped the person you are today?

I am from south Florida and grew up playing sports. I landed on volleyball as my favorite and in high school worked toward playing at the next level. After working with a sports performance coach, I learned how to eat to fuel my body to be my best and it made such a huge difference in my energy and play. I attended Florida State University and discovered the degree of nutrition and dietetics. It fascinated me and I immediately changed my major and began pursuing my passion of working in sports nutrition.

The other piece of my upbringing that shape my future business mentality was my father. He is a marriage and family therapist but also an entrepreneur. He had a clinic and saw patients, but also did so many other things like write, host a radio show, speak, and create products to help people in a broader market. He inspired me that you can create a business that’s not traditional and help a lot of people when you are creative and open to opportunity.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am nutrition and health professional and have worked in a couple of traditional healthcare roles, but mostly I have worked in nontraditional roles. In many cases, I have been given “the first” jobs, as in I was the first dietitian they’ve ever hired or the first to build a program for a business. My career has taken so many interesting twists and turns and I really love that. I’ve taken something from each of the jobs I’ve had, even I didn’t love what I was doing.

From day one of becoming a Registered Dietitian I have done 1:1 nutrition counseling. I enjoy working with people in this way so much! It’s such an honor to walk with someone through improving their health. I learned quickly that working with athletes is my favorite and I worked in the early days of my career to grow my knowledge and experience. This was really back in the early days of dietitians being hired by sports programs; it’s grown so much since then. I had to convince many people that they needed to hire me and that I would bring value to their organization. This time taught me how to be truly confident and deal with rejection.

Once online business and writing became a thing in the early 2010’s, I jumped in learning new skills around writing and food photography. I also realized at this time that I really enjoyed working in the media – being on TV. All of these pursuits took a lot of effort to learn how to execute them at a high level all while trying to communicate sometime complex messages to be easy to understand.

At this point in my career, I am humbled to say that I have been working for myself since 2019, practicing nutrition in a way that aligns with my purpose and calling. My main brand is called Make Healthy Easy and that is really what I work to do whether it’s in nutrition counseling, corporate presentations, social media, writing, speaking, or partnering with brands.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would not be doing what I do today without the support of my parents and the incredible mentors I’ve had in my educational journey.

My parents instilled me a sense of adventure, purpose, and ambition to pursue what God has called me to do. I am so grateful for their support and prayers.

I feel so blessed that the people who mentored me at Florida State University and then at the University of North Florida were some of the most incredible RD’s in the country. They taught me what I needed to know about nutrition and then challenged me to keep learning, growing and pursuing opportunities that didn’t even exist yet.

Lastly, I am thankful to God for opening doors for me to fulfill my calling that I could never open on my own.

Website: https://jennabraddock.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/make.healthy.easy/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbraddockrd/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBraddockRD

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakeHealthyEasy/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@makehealthyeasy

Other: Sports Nutrition practice for elite athletes: https://rhythmsportsnutrition.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rhythm.sports.nutrition/
Sports nutrition website for teen athletes: https://offseasonathlete.com/

Image Credits
My headshot is by Duane Furlong.